Freeland approves plan to move its secretary

FREELAND — It will cost the borough $3,800 to move its secretary back into the old borough building temporarily until the new borough building in the former Freeland Events Center is renovated.

It might be summer before the borough can begin moving into its new digs, according to an engineer working on the project.

Council voted 4-3 Thursday to accept a proposal by John Gera to install a countertop to house fax and copy machines — and to repair a security door and safety glass — at the borough building at Centre and Walnut streets.

Ann Marie Durange, secretary for Freeland Municipal Authority, has been doubling as the borough secretary for the last seven years. Durange, though, is retiring at the end of the year. David Kavitski, the borough engineer who is also an authority board member, said in October that upon Durange’s retirement, there will not be enough room for the new borough secretary to work out of the authority’s office.

Councilwoman Barbara Tulanowski explained the need for the repairs.

“They have to install a countertop in a closet area for a copier and fax,” Tulanowski said. “You need a place to put these machines. For some reason, it was torn out. A safety glass we put in for $22,000 was ripped out. The counter that supported it — and the security door — were ripped out and broken.”

Mayor Ed Appleman said the glass can later be removed and used in the new building.

“That was all done without anybody’s approval,” said Councilman Dan Bobby. “The $22,000 loan is just going to be paid off in May, and it’s all ripped out.”

No one seems to know who did the damage.

“We need to get with the police department and figure out what happened,” said Council President Paul Thomas, “It is a locked building. Nobody consulted with me.”

Thomas asked if the proposal was the only one obtained fot the work. Tulanowski said the proposal was the only one obtained, because “there is a time limit to get her (the secretary) out (of the authority office), and somebody was handy.”

Thomas said he was reluctantly voting to take the $3,800 offer.

“I’m disappointed we didn’t get more than one bid,” Thomas said. “But we have to make arrangements for the secretary.”

Maybe July

Thomas Reilly, of Reilly Associates, Kingston, the firm designing the new borough building in the former banquet hall, said if the bids are advertised in late December — and if the state allows the terms of the original grant to be changed — council could award a contract in January.

“We wouldn’t begin building right away,” Reilly said. “There are bonds and contracts we have to do. We would probably start the work at the end of February, and it would take three to four months to complete.”

At the meeting, council voted to extend deadline for closing on the purchase of the former events center.

Councilwoman Lynn Falatko, who, along with councilmen Dave Mahon and Chris Kimmel, voted against approving the work, said the borough could move in temporarily with the code and tax office remaining in the current borough building,

“The code and zoning office was the borough secretary’s office,” Falatko said. “There’s no reason that can’t be temporarily used. Code and zoning are there only in the evenings, It’s senseless to put $3,800 into a building they are going to abandon in a few months.”

“There is no room in the tax office,” Bobby said.

Tentative budget

By a 4-3 vote, council voted to advertise the borough’s $974,143 tentative 2018 budget for public inspection.

“Property tax millage will remain the same at 4.2 mills,” Tulanowski said. “Garbage fees will remain the same as in 2017, $195 per year.”

Thomas was critical of taking $22,000 from the garbage fund and $22,000 from the stormwater fund.

“I said, ‘how could that be?’” Thomas said. “I heard, we always did it. As far as I’m concerned, that’s not correct.”

Thomas pointed out that a former mayor, the late Ed Fedorshak, took the borough to court over that garbage fee practice and won.

“In other words, you are overcharging for the service, and creating a slush fund,” Thomas said. “You’re using it as you see fit, The borough lost that time. What I am seeing now is the same thing. There’s no way you can justify taking $22,000 out of the garbage fund, and $22,000 out of stormwater. I will vote for it (the budget), so the borough can operate into the new year.”

Falatko said she voted against the budget because she didn’t see it until the meeting.

“We didn’t see it until we sat down at the table,” Falatko said. “We had zero chance to review it. Just from a brief review there are no costs to run a new building, no maintenance, no utilities.”

Contact the writer:

jdino@standardspeaker.com; 570-501-3585

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